The Badass And The Boy Next Door
by koganphrancis
Summary: AU: Kendall is wearing a varsity jacket, Logan is wearing a leather jacket. They meet and eventually get those jackets off...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Surprise! I didn't think I'd be posting another story on here so soon, but inspiration struck. Monday night Kendall and Logan attended Dancing With The Stars again, and their black jackets were of contrasting styles, and I thought I'd write a drabble for my blog. But, when I got to 4700 words and they still hadn't kissed yet, I realized it was a bit more than a drabble, and since I was making them younger than real life, I set it in a showverse AU and those can be posted here, so, here it is. Chapter 2 is done (I think), I'll post it later on today. Now all the usual mumbo jumbo: I don't own these characters, but boy if I did; rated M for man on man stuff; please review! I hope everyone in the US is having a happy Memorial Day weekend, and for the rest of the world, I hope your weekend was/is the bees knees!

Kendall Knight was as all American as they come. Born and bred in the nation's heartland, solid B student, star athlete of his hometown high school. Had an after school job bagging groceries, sang the national anthem at town assemblies, and was dating a cheerleader. He was actively being recruited by the best universities in Kansas, they all wanted him to come play basketball for them and continue his education past high school. A scholarship from any school would be a godsend, his mom worked hard to make ends meet raising Kendall and his little sister.

Since money was so tight, when Kendall went on his college visits, he went by bus. His mom couldn't get off work for the three days he was taking to go to all of them, but she'd be able to go to the last one in Wichita, which was the school closest to home and where he had already pretty much decided he would go to, all the universities sight unseen, since he'd be able to commute from home to go there and continue to help out at home as much as possible. Unless one of the other schools offered a bigger scholarship deal that would net the family bigger savings, Wichita State would be where Kendall would go.

The night before Kendall's WSU interview, he was in a bus station in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas had a huge campus, and Kendall's student guide had shown him every inch of it, it felt like. By the time Kendall dragged himself into the bus station and bought his ticket, he was exhausted.

A little after midnight, the bus station was almost completely deserted. A young man completely dressed in black walked through the main doors and went to the one ticket window that was open. The employee in the glassed in booth started yelling at the young man before he was even up to the window.

"What are you doing back here, punk? I told you the next time I saw you I'd call the cops."

"Good evening to you, too," the punk smiled. "Friendly as always. I just want to know…"

"No one's seen her, no one's ever seen her. And if I had seen her, I'd help her to run away from you, now GO."

"Look, buddy, it's a free country. And this is public property. I can ask around and see if any of the travelers have seen her."

"There are no other travelers. Last bus pulled out about half an hour ago and there aren't any more on the schedule till after seven AM and you can't loiter around here waiting."

The young man looked around the deserted depot and saw one guy asleep on a bench.

"What about him?" the young man asked the hostile ticket seller.

"Who?"

"That guy. You're going to let him sleep on a bench all night? Isn't that loitering or vagrancy or something?"

"He has a ticket, he bought it from me."

"So if I buy a ticket, I can stay till morning?"

"NO! His ticket isn't for the morning…"

The young man shook his head. "You're not exactly observant, are you? You couldn't wake the poor bastard up so he didn't miss his bus?"

The young man went to the sleeping blond on the bench and shook his shoulder. "Hey, buddy. Buddy, wake up. You missed the bus."

Kendall was a slow waker. "Wha….?" He took in the stranger standing over him. His first impression was, "Whoa, that's a lot of black." Black hair, black leather jacket, black boots, black jeans…

"You leave him alone, I'm calling the cops right now!" the ticket seller was yelling through the thick plastic of his booth.

"Aw, Christ. Hey, look, pal, I don't know where you're heading, but you've got all night to wait for the next bus, so would you mind coming outside with me before that jerk calls the cops and look at a picture for me? I'm trying to find someone."

Kendall had no idea what the hell was going on. Missed the bus? All night to wait? He didn't have all night, he needed to be on Wichita State's campus at eight the next morning for his interview. He ran over to the ticket window. "What time's the next bus to Wichita?" he asked the man behind the window.

The guy put the phone down with a heavy sigh. He wasn't really calling the cops, but he wanted that other punk guy out of his station. "Next bus is at seven AM."

"How long does it take to get to Wichita from here?" Kendall was beginning to panic.

"About three hours, give or take. You'll be hitting morning rush hour…"

Kendall wasn't even listening anymore. "No! No, no, no, no! I need to be there by eight!"

"I'm sorry, son. That's just not going to happen, not by bus anyway."

Kendall didn't know what to do. His mom was working a night shift at her second job-no way could she leave and drive three hours to get Kendall now and then the three hours back. She'd lose her job, for one thing. Maybe in the morning he could call WSU and move his appointment-but that was unlikely. He was set up to meet not only people from admissions but also the basketball coach and some of the players. But, what else could he do but try?

"I'd like to trade in my ticket, please," he told the man behind the glass, taking it out of his varsity jacket pocket.

The man behind the glass looked truly sorry as he told Kendall, "No refunds, son. I'm sorry."

Kendall was ready to burst into tears. He had like five bucks left on him, he had planned to be at home some point late tonight. He didn't have money for another bus ticket.

"Buddy? Do you need a ride somewhere?" Kendall heard a voice ask behind him.

"Now just one minute, you punk. You're not just going to abduct this young man…"

"Settle down, Pops. Here," the young man dug his wallet out of his back pocket and handed his license to the ticket seller. "Photocopy that and if you hear about a young man gone missing in the next couple of days, you can give it to the cops. I'm not a serial killer or anything."

"You're only eighteen?" the ticket man asked.

"Good for you, you're good at math," the young man replied.

"What about that girl you're always in here looking for, what did she run away from you for?" the older man asked.

"If you EVER paid attention when I was trying to get you to keep an eye out for her, you'd know she's my cousin, she ran away from her abusive boyfriend at her college, and her summer camp roommate from when she was fourteen lives in Lawrence and I'm hoping she'll turn up here. I can't think who else she'd go to, the asshole boyfriend knows all her other friends and relatives and she wouldn't want to put them in danger."

"How do I know you're not the abusive boyfriend?" the ticket seller asked.

Kendall spoke up. "Because he's worried about her. He doesn't want to find her to hurt her, he wants to find her to help her."

The dark haired boy tilted his head and looked at the blond. For just an instant, he looked, well, adorable. Even the ticket seller saw it.

"This here is a Texas license," the ticket seller said.

"Wow, you're on a real roll of observations here. It's a Texas license because that's where I live. Texas," he added with exaggerated sarcasm.

"I'm just saying, I don't think this boy here should trust a stranger."

"Well, I'm the only free ride in town right now."

Kendall was biting his thumbnail. "I…uh, I need to get to Wichita. That's not close by and I don't have much money I can give you for gas or anything…"

"Look, I've got nothing else to do. I've been looking for my cousin all around Lawrence for a couple of weeks now, and nothing's come of it. Might as well have my time here do someone some good. Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Kendall didn't see a reason to say no, except for the nagging voice of his mother in the back of his head screaming "NOOOOO!" But he was almost an adult now, almost out in the real world. He had to start trusting people from outside his bubble sometime.

The ticket taker printed them a set of turn by turn directions from his computer, feeling like the kid deserved something for the price of his ticket, and slid them under the glass, glaring at the dark-haired boy all the while.

Right when they got out the door, where the light was as good as it was going to be, the young man in black stopped and took a picture out of his inside jacket pocket. "You, uh, haven't happened to see anyone like this, have you?" he asked, a sliver of hope, despite everything, in his voice.

Kendall took his time looking at the photo. The girl was extremely pretty in a fresh faced sort of way. Dark hair, dark eyes, a pretty smile, and dimples. "She's beautiful; I can see the family resemblance."

Those two thoughts were completely disconnected in Kendall's mind (or WERE they?) but the other man didn't hear it that way. He flashed a perfect smile at the blond, but then remembered he hadn't answered the important question.

"But have you seen her?"

"Sorry, no. I mean, I saw about five hundred girls today on the KU campus, but I THINK I would've remembered her? Because she's so pretty," Kendall was starting to blush from the unblinking way the pretty girl's cousin was staring at him.

"All right. Let's git goin'," the dark haired boy said. They walked over to the bus station's parking lot, and Logan walked right up to a motorcycle, and unstrapped a helmet off the back and turned to hand it to Kendall. Kendall literally took a step back.

"Uh, is that what you're driving?" Kendall asked nervously.

"Yep."

"Oh."

The dark haired boy jabbed the helmet towards Kendall again, and he reluctantly took it and put it on. The dark haired boy took another helmet that was dangling off the handle bars and jammed it onto his head. He turned and looked at his passenger.

"Hop on. I won't bite-until you want me to," he smiled. He flipped down the clear visor on his helmet and when Kendall just stood there motionless, flipped his visor down for him and gave him a little head bump between the two helmets.

"Jump on and hang on, this is gonna be a fun ride!" Logan smiled brightly behind the helmet.

The dark haired boy got on the bike with ease from long years of practice, and then Kendall gingerly threw one long leg over the seat behind the boy and lightly put his hands on the other boy's waist.

The driver craned his neck around, "Gonna have to hug me tight, once I git goin'," he yelled as he started the motorcycle up. Kendall hesitated for about three seconds and then wrapped his arms around his driver as tight as he could as they drove out of the parking lot. The boy in the leather jacket probably put a lot more swing than was necessary into turning onto to the road to get his passenger to grip him tight, but, hey, safety first, right? He did it for the blond's own good.

After an a little more than an hour, the driver pulled off the highway to an all night truck stop. The riders got off the bike, one much more stiffly than the other. They both took off their helmets.

"You doin' all right, buddy? Riding for the first time can be hell on your ass and on your balls."

Kendall just nodded numbly. His chauffeur certainly spoke the truth, plus Kendall felt like he had never needed to pee so badly in his life.

"Keep the helmet with ya-this ain't no farm town deserted bus station," his companion told him, leading the way to the door of the truck stop without a look back.

When they got in the door, the driver took a quick look at his charge. He looked absolutely pale, but it seemed to be turning to green. "Hey, buddy, you all right? You're not gonna hurl, are ya?"

"Nnnn…no," Kendall managed to eke out. In truth it was probably only because he hadn't eaten in over twelve hours since lunch at one of the KU dining halls. "Uh, I really need to pee…"

"Bathroom's right over there," the other boy said, pointing with his helmet while he took Kendall's helmet with his other hand. "I'll grab a table."

When Kendall returned from the bathroom, he didn't look much better.

"Hey, sit down before you fall down," the dark haired boy told him. Just then a waitress came to their table.

"What'll it be, boys?"

Kendall was trying to say something to the dark haired boy about money, but was being ignored.

"Tell ya wut," he was saying to the waitress as Kendall tried to get his attention. "My friend here's feeling a little scrambled, so why don't we start him off with a Coca-cola and some toast. Do you happen to have cinnamon and sugar to put on that?" He flashed the waitress a brilliant smile and she flushed and said she was sure she could put some together, the cook had both those ingredients for making apple pie. "Great!" the dark haired boy beamed. "And I'll git a Coke too, and a hamburger, cooked medium, with everything…ooh, wait, hold the onions, please. And since toast is so quick and easy, please bring his food as soon as it's ready. No need to have him waitin' on me."

The waitress scurried off to put the order in, and the dark haired boy looked back at his fellow traveler.

"Glad I remembered about the onions. When the helmet's on and you start breathing in onion breath…" he noticed Kendall was starting to look green again. "How about we just wait till we git some food in ya and settle your stomach?"

"Um, speaking of the food, I only have five bucks…" Kendall began.

"Don't worry about it, this midnight snack can be on me. We're only about halfway there, you're gonna need something in ya-when's the last time you ate?"

"Lunch." As Kendall was answering, the waitress came back and gave them each their Cokes and placed a plate with the toast on it in front of Kendall. He looked at the other boy inquiringly.

"Dig in! Can't have you fainting away," he told Kendall.

"Uh, yeah, thanks…er, I don't know your name?" Kendall said, as he took a nibble on the toast. It was warm and good.

"Logan."

Kendall was surprised. For some reason he wasn't expecting something so melodic and unique. He hadn't really thought about it, but he expected him to just have a blunt "guy" name like Dan or Jack or Mike or something.

"I'm Kendall."

"Good for you, Kindle." And there it was again, that roughness and apathy. Maybe Kendall looked a little hurt, because Logan added, "Since we're gonna be here a while, why don't you tell me what's your deal?"

"My…deal?"

"Yeah, you know, what you're up to, why you were asleep in a bus station in the middle of the night…"

"Oh, well, I'm a high school senior, I've been visiting colleges. Yesterday I was in Manhattan to visit Kansas State, and today I was at KU in Lawrence…well, I guess technically that was yesterday, now." He nibbled on the toast some more, and took a sip of Coke.

"Feeling any better?" Logan asked.

"Much, thank you. Anyway, I guess that's about it-I go to school, I hope to go to Wichita State, got a mom and little sister, I work after school and weekends at a grocery store, that's it. What about you?"

"No school, no sister. I've got a mom and a dad, they divorced when I was little. They're both out of work now, the economy and stuff." Logan scowled.

"And you live in Texas? With one of them?"

"Well, Dad's living in a rundown little trailer now-and he's been awful bitter since the bank took the house. I used to live with him before that. My mom's been in a tiny apartment ever since I can remember, so I try to stay out of her hair. I stay more with friends and other relatives if I can help it, and only go to one of the parents' couches when I'm out of options."

"Oh," Kendall's voice was quiet. He couldn't imagine this. No matter how bad things might ever get, that would just make him want to be near his mom and Katie more, not less. He tried to think of something to say. "Your bike's cool."

"Yeah."

Okay, not the icebreaker Kendall was hoping it would be.

"Do you work?"

"Here and there, now and then," Logan said. "Enough about me-what are you going to college for?"

"Like, to study?" Logan nodded at Kendall patiently. "Uh, I'm not really sure yet. Maybe engineering? Something that leads to a job, I guess."

"Can't you do that at any of those schools? Why are you looking at three?" Logan's burger arrived and he took a big bite out of it while waiting for Kendall's answer.

"Well, I play basketball, so whatever school gives me the best scholarship is where I'll go-IF any of them offer me a scholarship," he amended.

"You some sort of big deal basketball player?"

"Not really. I mean, in our district I'm considered one of the top players, but it's a really small district."

"But all the Kansas schools have really good teams, you have to be pretty good if they're considering you."

For some reason, Logan telling him that made him blush. "Naw, they're giving me a look because I'm already in Kansas, I think. If I made any of those teams, I definitely be a role player at best-or maybe just another body to have at practice."

"No NBA dreams, then?" Logan asked.

Kendall giggled, he actually giggled. "Uh, no. I'm just barely 6 feet tall and most guys in the NBA have arms that are thicker than my legs. So, no. If I get college help out of my basketball 'talent' it'll be more than enough."

For some reason, Logan didn't like how Kendall referred to his talent in a belittling way, but he decided it wasn't any of his business. Neither was his next question, but he had more than half his burger to go and they needed to talk about something. "So, how about friends, girlfriends…?"

Kendall turned bright red. "Well, uh, I do have a girlfriend. Um, she actually goes to Rutgers now-she's a freshman there, almost done with her first year. She's exactly one year older than me, we have the same birthday."

"How did you kids meet?" Logan really didn't care, but he'd rather chew than talk, so he wanted Kendall to keep talking.

"Went to school together. Um, she was a cheerleader so we got to know each other on bus rides and at fundraisers and stuff."

"Is it serious?"

"Uh, well, yeah, I guess. Maybe? We're kind of engaged to be engaged, you know?"

"So that ring, it's like an engagement ring?" Logan asked around a mouth full of French fry. He pointed with his next fry at the plain silver band on Kendall's left hand ring finger. Kendall had been holding the last triangle of his toast with that hand, but he dropped it like it burned and stuck his hand under the table and rested it on his lap.

"Well, um, I GUESS in a way that's what it is-it's a purity ring."

Logan snorted the sip of soda he had just taken. "Cola up my nose," he muttered. He hacked a cough. "It's a WHAT now?"

Kendall's face was positively lobster red now. "A purity ring. It means we won't, you know, fool around or anything, till…later." His voice was muffled and low. If a person could die of embarrassment they'd be calling an undertaker for Kendall right about now now.

"Not even with each other?" Logan was incredulous.

Kendall nodded.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of!" Logan practically shouted. "What if she's a lousy lay? You don't get to find that out till the wedding night? The fuck?!"

Kendall was wishing Logan would lower his voice, some of the truckers and their waitress had definitely heard some, if not all, of that.

What Kendall said next just popped out of his mouth. He had no idea he was going to say it, it just happened. "What if _I'm_ a lousy lay?" he whispered.

Logan's eyes got huge. "You've had complaints?"

"WHAT? NO! I mean," Kendall lowered his voice, everyone really was listening by this point. "I've never done…anything. So, I have no idea."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Never done anything? How did you get engaged to be engaged yet? You've had to have kissed her."

"Well, yeah, some. But, I've never really…felt…anything, even when doing that, you know?"

Logan didn't know. What was this guy's deal?

"So why are you with her?" was all Logan could think to ask.

"I dunno. At first everything was her idea, dating and getting pre-engaged and stuff and we saved up and bought the rings together. But then when she went away to college…"

Logan was listening. "Yeah? What happened?"

"Well I don't know, for sure, but when she came home for Christmas break, she wasn't wearing the ring anymore."

Logan raised his eyebrows. "What did she say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? How did you ask her?" Logan said.

"I didn't ask her. I kept waiting for her to bring it up, but she never did. But, it's pretty obvious what it meant, isn't it?"

Logan thought about it. "Well, I guess. Like, if she just left it at school, or had lost it, she would've said, right? But, what about when you were together when she was home? Did she act the same, treat you like she did before?"

"Well, yeah, since before all we'd ever do was a goodbye kiss."

"Are you guys in some religious sect or something?" Logan asked.

"No, why?"

"I've just never heard of teenagers so not interested in physical contact. God, were one or both of you molested as children?"

"NO!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sense of this…" Logan said, holding up his hands in a mock defensive pose.

"Well, we weren't. And, besides, Jo is interested. She was always trying to get me to…make out, and I think it's a pretty good bet that once she got to Rutgers she found somebody who would. Hence taking off the ring?" Kendall looked down at his own ring.

"Why do you still wear yours?" Logan asked.

"Huh? Oh, you know. I didn't want people to notice I had taken it off and ask about it, especially since Jo and I never officially broke up," Kendall said.

"But unofficially?" Logan wondered.

"Go on her Facebook page-she says she's single."

Logan squinted at him and tilted his head.

"So people in your school must know this-why keep the ring on? And why wear it on these college visits where no one knows you yet."

Kendall shut his eyes. "If you must know, it keeps girls from hitting on me."

Logan gave him a huge smile. "I can see where that would be a big problem for ya. They'd probably be tearing your clothes off without that ring to protect you."

"I knew it was going to sound conceited before I even said it. It's not that-it's not that there'd be tons of them. It's just, even one would make me uncomfortable."

Logan was really beginning to suspect something. "Are you sure you're playing for the right team?"

"Uh, sure, the Shockers would be a great team to play for…"

Logan laughed out loud. "You're right, they're great. They'll be back to the Final Four next year, I bet. You want a burger? Your color is so much better now and we've still got a ways to go. It won't take us as long as the bus since we didn't have to make any stops but this, but if we had driven straight through it's still about a two and a half hour ride."

Kendall's eyes were full of hunger, but he didn't want Logan to have to pay for him. Logan caught the look and motioned the waitress over. "Can we get another burger, please? How do you like it cooked?"

Kendall smiled gratefully and said well done, and that he'd have his with everything but the onions too.

"You like bacon?" Logan asked. Kendall nodded. "Throw a couple strips of bacon on there too, we gotta fatten this kid's legs up. Oh, and more fries, please." The waitress winked and went off to get Kendall's order in.

"Logan, really, you don't have to spend so much…" Kendall began.

"Would you hush?" Hush? Kendall was once again surprised at a word coming out of Logan's mouth. "I'm gonna eat at least half of them, so to keep things fair, you better have some of these." He pushed his plate closer to Kendall's half of the table.

Kendall hesitated.

"Go on," Logan said.

"I don't want to get motion sick again," Kendall said.

"Naw, you weren't motion sick. You were just queasy because you were hungry."

"How do you know that?" Kendall asked.

"Because the toast and Coke made you feel better right away. If you were motion sick you wouldn't want more food, and your eyes said you wanted a burger," Logan smiled.

"Wow, how do you know all that?"

"I'm not just a punk-I wanted to be a doctor at one point. I read everything I could get my hands on and even got to do a work study at my school where I worked at a health clinic. I didn't get to do anything but keep cabinets in the exam rooms stocked, but I got to talk to all the doctors and nurses the whole time I was there." Logan's face was happy and glowing thinking about it.

"Why 'at one point'? Don't you want to be a doctor still?" Kendall asked.

Logan's face lost the happy glow. "It's not in the cards for me."

"Why not? Lots of people work their way through school…" Kendall began.

"Yeah, well, lots of schools aren't impressed when they see you dropped out of high school. They're not exactly lining up to interview me."

"Do you have a GED?"

"Mind your own business," Logan said gruffly. The waitress brought Kendall's burger and fries.

"You do, don't you? You're too smart not to."

"You know me now? You know my life?" Logan snarled.

"What happened?" Kendall asked quietly. Logan remained silent, so Kendall added, "Look, I just told you about my girlfriend probably cheating on me the first chance she got-how bad can your story be?"

Logan picked up one of Kendall's fries and chomped on it. "You don't wanna know how bad it can be."

"I can take it," Kendall said, hoping he wasn't overestimating his ability to do so.

Logan let out a big sigh. "FINE. When I was sixteen, that's when my dad lost his house. Everything in his life had been turning to shit for quite a while, and he was drinking, a lot, to deal with it. One night he pushed me down a flight of stairs. Both my arms got broken and I was placed in foster care because my mother stood up at a custody hearing and said she couldn't take care of me if I couldn't take care of myself. In order to go to school, I was going to have to have an aide go to all my classes with me and transcribe everything for me. Plus everyone there knew what happened with my dad. It all seemed like way too much shit to go through, and I was old enough to quit school, so I did. Eat your burger."

It was the last thing Kendall wanted to do at the moment, but it also seemed like the only thing he could do for Logan, so he took a bite. Logan wasn't looking at him, he was staring down at the floor.

"This, um, this burger's really good. Thank you for getting it for me."

"Yeah, well, gotta keep you fueled up. This is the warmest I've ever been riding on a cool night, you're like a furnace back there-I can even feel your heat through my leather jacket," Logan said in a distracted voice.

Kendall had no idea if that was a compliment or not, but it made him feel funny down low in his stomach, a good kind of funny.

"You know, I don't know why it still bugs me my mom said that in court. It wasn't any kind of surprise. Both my parents told me from the time I was little I was a mistake and the main reason they got divorced, not to mention every other bad thing that happened during their lives since." He wasn't really talking to Kendall now, just musing aloud.

Kendall clenched his jaw to keep himself from saying something. He instinctively knew Logan wouldn't want him feeling sorry for him, and he wasn't. What he was feeling was a blinding, pissed off rage. How could parents treat their own son like that?

"You ready to roll?" Logan asked. Kendall gulped down the end of his burger. He could tell Logan just wanted to get out of there now, and stop talking.

When they got back out on the bike, instead of just wrapping his arms around Logan to hang on, Kendall put his arms around Logan as far as they would go and gave him a gentle squeeze. If he hadn't had the helmet on, he would've rested his head against Logan's back. He didn't know if Logan would get it that he was hugging him, but on the other hand Kendall felt maybe that was for the best-he wasn't sure if Logan would like him hugging him.

When they got to Kendall's house it was just a little after three AM.

"Do you want to come in? Maybe warm up with some coffee?" Kendall asked.

"I don't want to disturb anybody…"

"My mom's at work till six and my little sister is staying over at a friend's house since no one would be here to watch her tonight. Even if I hadn't missed the bus, I would've gotten in past her bedtime. Come on in, you must at least need to use the bathroom. Please?"

Logan stretched and cracked his neck from side to side. "Yeah, what the hell. Coffee's probably a good idea."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Here's the conclusion (and the smushy smushy). Now all the usual mumbo jumbo: I don't own these characters, but boy if I did; rated M for man on man stuff; please review! I hope everyone in the US is having a happy Memorial Day weekend, and for the rest of the world, I hope your weekend was/is the bees knees!

Kendall led the way inside. His house was modest as they come, a little one story cracker box cut into four rooms: a kitchen, a family room, a small bedroom each for his mom and his sister. The kitchen was in the back of the house, Kendall pointed out the bathroom that you actually had to walk through his mother's room to access, and told Logan to find him in the kitchen when he was done.

Kendall had the coffee brewing when Logan rejoined him, it smelled good and strong. Logan took in the little kitchen. There were countless homey touches from the sunflower pattern on the curtains to the colorful mugs and sugar bowl Kendall had on the table and report cards and tests with big A's and B's clipped to the fridge with bright magnets that looked like marbles.

"So, I don't know how you take your coffee…there's sugar, but no cream. We have milk, but it's only two-percent, kind of watery for coffee," Kendall was babbling, for some reason, he didn't want to disappoint Logan.

Logan chuckled. "It's okay, Kindle, I like my coffee like I like my clothes."

Kendall had too much on his mind to follow what Logan was saying.

"Uh, BLACK?" Logan said, smiling.

"Oh, yeah! Tee hee," Kendall replied, panicking that he giggled at the end. Tee hee? Now? Really? The coffee was ready and he poured them each a big mugful.

"Don't you have to get some sleep before your interview?" Logan asked.

"No, I don't think so. I slept plenty at the bus station and there's not a lot of time left between now and when I'd have to get up. Sleep now would probably just make me groggy."

They sat in silence for a while, sipping on their coffee and Kendall kept looking into his mug thinking how the coffee was just about the same color as Logan's eyes. Then he'd think about hugging him on the motorcycle. Then he thought about kissing him…

"Hey, Logan?" his voice came out in a high squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Uh, you know, I knew what you meant, when you asked me about playing for the wrong team."

Logan just looked at him, poker faced. Giving absolutely nothing away.

Kendall sighed and continued. "And, so, anyway, with the long ride and all, I got to wondering…" he bit down on his lower lip. "What team do you play for?" he finished in a whisper.

Logan grinned. "Whatever side picks me."

Kendall's eyes got huge. "That's the prettiest shade of green I've ever seen," Logan thought to himself.

"Anything else you'd like to know?" he asked Kendall.

"I'd like to know if kissing you would be different. Do you think it's different when you, um, kiss different teams?"

"Never really thought about it," Logan lied. "Git up."

Kendall stood up slowly as Logan got up and walked around the small round table to him. He looked deeply into Kendall's eyes. "You sure about this? Just because you kissed one girl and it didn't do anything for ya doesn't mean you'd feel like that with all gur…" Logan was cut off by Kendall's lips pressing onto his. Logan let his eyes flutter closed and let Kendall take the lead. His kiss was surprisingly good-from everything he had said, Logan would've figured him to be tense and stiff and close-mouthed. But he was warm and tender and soft and his lips alternately pushed against Logan's and relaxed and when he relaxed for about the third time, Kendall just let his mouth open slightly and Logan's tongue slipped in there on its own accord. Logan hadn't even noticed, but at some point during the proceedings he had brought his hands up onto Kendall's shoulders and was gently kneading them while Kendall's hands had slipped around his waist and had pulled them close together. They stood in the middle of the kitchen exchanging coffee flavored kisses, each with his jacket still on.

They finally had to part for air.

"Wow," Logan said.

"Really?" Kendall said, a small smile on his face. "I mean, my toes were curling, but I figured you've probably…" he trailed off, not sure how to finish that thought.

"No, believe me, Kindle, that…was new. You do that really well."

"It must've been because you were the one I was kissing. I've never…fit like that, with Jo."

Logan just gave him a little smile. He noticed how flushed Kendall's cheeks were, and he bet his were the same. The kitchen was suddenly too hot. He peeled off his leather jacket.

Kendall literally whimpered. Logan's skin was creamy white against the black tank top he was wearing, and his arms were strong and muscular. Even though he could see a bit of it before, now that the jacket was off, his throat was suddenly noticeable and Logan also had an interesting triangle of freckles on his neck. Without thinking, Kendall closed the gap between them again and started kissing and gently nibbling Logan's neck. Logan tilted his head to let him, but he really had to wonder what was going on.

"Hey, Logan?" Kendall stopped nibbling and stepped back a bit so he could look directly into Logan's eyes. "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

Logan sighed. "Doesn't seem likely, does it? I'll be headed back to Texas before too long, I hope, and you'll be off to college."

"Do you think your cousin's okay?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah. I check in every couple days with my aunt and uncle. Her ex is still tearing around the Dallas/Fort Worth area trying to find her-people keep her parents informed. If he had found her, he wouldn't be running around all pissed off. I'm almost positive she's with her camp friend, but no one knows her last name so she's hard for me to find-but her ape of an ex-boyfriend doesn't even know about her. Jamie would've known how to find the parents of that girl if nothing else, even if she hadn't talked to her old camp friend in years."

"I'm glad she had someone to turn to.," Kendall said.

"Yeah, so, I guess I should be goi…"

"NO!" Kendall cut him off. "Um, please don't go quite yet. I, uh, well, I was thinking."

There was a long silence. Logan finally asked, "About?"

"Well, this will seem awful sudden, and I know we might never see each other again, but, could we, um, spend the night? Together? Like how they talk about in songs? Live it with no regrets?"

"Kindle," Logan didn't know what to say. There had to be millions of reasons to say no, but he found he didn't want to say that. But, this _was _awful sudden, and this guy hadn't done anything, before now. "When you were just nibbling my neck just then-is that further than you've ever gone before?"

Kendall blushed and looked down at his feet. "I know, I know. I'm just some dumb kid who's never done anything and will probably suck at it…"

"That's not what I'm getting at. Don't you want your first time to be special? Don't you want to wait and find someone and care about them and get to that point together?"

"I think I did."

"Kindle, you don't even know me…"

"I know you care about your cousin, and that you're smart, and that you cared enough about a stranger to give him a ride hours out of your way and to feed him," Kendall said, looking into Logan's eyes the whole time. "And that you kissed me."

"And now you want to make the leap from that to having me…?" Logan couldn't even bring himself to say it.

"Have you ever had one night stands before?" Kendall asked.

"Well, yeah."

"With someone you just met? Or do you make a point of getting to know someone really well, then have sex with them once, and then that's it?"

"Well of course the nature of a one night stand is usually that you don't know the person...It's different when they just want the same thing too," Logan tried to explain.

"Just because I haven't had it before, doesn't mean I don't want it," Kendall said. "And, I'd really like to have it with you. This isn't something I'll regret, Logan. What I'd regret is having you leave here and never see you again knowing we threw away our one chance at being together."

Logan tilted his head. "Kiss me again," he said. Kendall did so without hesitation. Right away, they were back in the rhythms and the softness of the first kiss, Kendall didn't attack Logan's mouth or try to take over or prove anything with the kiss. He simply kissed Logan for the sake of kissing him, and because Logan asked him to and allowed him to.

"You're really sure about this?" Logan asked. Kendall nodded. "All right, give me a minute. I've got some…stuff, on my bike."

Logan didn't even bother putting his jacket back on, which was a good thing. Kendall would've taken it to mean he was going to run off. Despite how sure he was that he wanted this to happen, inside Kendall was freaking out. This was nuts-sure Logan seemed to be a nice guy despite some rough edges, and sure, Kendall was wildly attracted to him. But they just met. He was the first guy Kendall had ever kissed. He was the first person he'd ever wanted to get intimate with. "But if I don't do this now, he'll be gone forever and I'll have missed my chance to know how happy we can be," Kendall thought to himself. Then he decided he better hit the bathroom before Logan got back.

Meanwhile Logan was digging through one of his motorcycle's saddle bags looking for lube. He had a condom three pack in his wallet. He wondered about what they were about to do. Logan had never been a guy's first before. Or a girl's, for that matter. Deflowering virgins wasn't his thing. Not that he had ever really thought about it, but anyone getting into their first dewy-eyed romance wasn't looking for him, or his type. And he found plenty of companionship with people already experienced. His fingers finally found the lube. There weren't any streetlights on Kendall's road and the front porch bulb didn't throw much light. But there was a big moon out that had followed Logan and Kendall all during the ride from Lawrence. Logan smiled a little thinking about Kendall's warmth pressed up against his back. Yeah, he could definitely return some of that. Logan breathed in deeply. The May night was filled with the scent coming from the wild lilac bushes growing around the lot Kendall's house sat on. Spring was late this year, but now that it was here a young man's fancy lightly turned to…Logan shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? Yeah, the moonlight and the perfumed air made it a perfect night for romance, and he wanted Kendall's first time to be at least somewhat special, but he was acting like he was some lovestruck fool or something. He just met this guy, plus he was about to ride out of his life forever. He'd show him a good time, teach him a thing or two, and…no, that was going too far the other way into callousness. Logan took one last sniff of the lilacs, looked up at the moon one more time, and headed back inside.

Kendall was just coming back through his mom's room. "Uh, hi," he said, when he saw Logan.

"Hi."

"Um, my room's downstairs-it's the basement actually. Come on." Kendall led Logan back to the kitchen and opened a door that led downstairs.

Kendall's lair was the other part of the basement that didn't contain the washer and dryer. The area around the washer and dryer was neat and tidy. The rest of the room looked like a recent tornado had whipped through.

"Sorry about the mess," Kendall grimaced. He hadn't thought about this at all. He kicked a path over to his bed through all the scattered clothes and schoolbooks and stuff on the floor, and when he got to his bed, he just scooped up everything that was on it into the jumbled comforter and walked it over to the other side of the room and tried to cram it into a laundry basket. Logan smiled at him, he was just too cute.

Logan took a minute to glance around. He had noticed walking by the living room upstairs that the mantle was filled with trophies, and down here there was a shelf covered in them as well. Kendall had a couple of posters up on the concrete cinder blocks that made up the walls. One was some basketball dude and the other was The Beatles. There was a small desk overflowing with books and papers and an old desktop computer. There was a closed guitar case leaning in a corner. Kendall finally took off his varsity jacket and hung it on the guitar case. He looked at Logan and smiled shyly.

"I don't know what to do," Kendall said simply.

Logan smiled and walked over to him. He kissed him gently on the lips and then looked him in the eye. "We'll take it slow and see how it goes. Anything you don't like, just tell me and we won't do that. And if at any time you change your mind about the whole thing, we can stop. Just tell me and there won't be any hard feelings and you don't have to feel embarrassed about not doing it, okay?"

Kendall nodded solemnly. Logan almost wanted to laugh; he could imagine that's exactly how Kendall would look listening to his coach before a big game.

"Hey, relax. This is supposed to be fun, you know?" Logan told him.

Kendall smiled a little nervous smile. "I want it to be good for you."

Logan rubbed Kendall's shoulder. "It will be, you'll see. For both of us. Um, why don't you grab one of those towels over there?" There was a pile of bath towels neatly folded on top of the dryer. His mom had folded them (of course), one of Kendall's chores was to bring them upstairs and stick them in the small linen closet, but he was always forgetting. He handed one to Logan and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, so, we haven't established who will be doing what, but either way one of us will probably wind up jizzing someplace, and no need to have to try to sleep on a sticky spot later," Logan said.

"Oh, yeah. Good thinking. And, uh, about the 'who will be doing what'? Do you usually, um," Kendall just stopped. This was all a bit much to put into words.

"We're going to do whatever you're comfortable with, it's okay. I do either," Logan told him.

"I was just thinking all along that you'd, um, be the one, er, doing…it? To me?" Kendall stammered.

"You sure? I honestly don't mind being the bottom," Logan said.

"I…I'm sure." What Kendall wanted to say was he wanted Logan so bad he could taste it, but didn't know if that would be too much.

"All right, how about we get more comfortable?" Logan sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him as he tossed the towel to the middle of the bed. Kendall came over, put his butt down, and laid all the way back. "Oh, okay," Logan said, going with it. He twisted sideways and was lying next to Kendall. He placed his hand under Kendall's chin and turned his head so they could kiss. They enjoyed that for a while, and then Logan took his hand away from Kendall's chin and slid it under his polo shirt. Kendall giggled, then apologized.

"It's okay, I know it can tickle to be touched," Logan smiled. "How about we get these off?" he said, sitting up and pulling off his tank top over his head. Kendall just gaped. He'd seen plenty of male chests and torsos in locker rooms, but somehow Logan's was the one that turned him on. It was like Logan had some sort of power over him. He had never lusted after a teammate in his life, but every single thing about Logan made him burn.

"Want some help?" Logan asked, putting his hands on the hem of Kendall's shirt since he wasn't moving. Logan got the shirt up over Kendall's head and they just stared at each other for a full second when Kendall's face popped back out. Logan let go so Kendall could pull his arms out of the shirt and then all they knew for a few minutes was the feeling of silky warm skin on silky warm skin. Kendall wasn't shy about exploring Logan at all-with his fingers, with his tongue, with his lips. Any place on Logan's upper body he could reach, he found. Logan had never felt so treasured and desired in any encounter he had had before. It was almost as if Kendall had been waiting his whole life for this opportunity, and he wasn't going to miss any piece of Logan.

Their pants were the next things to go, well, after their shoes (in Logan's case, boots) and socks. Logan pulled off his black jeans and Kendall got himself out of his university visiting khakis and threw them where they'd land. Kendall wasn't surprised at all that Logan was wearing black underwear-boxer briefs that weren't exactly lying flat against him at the moment. Kendall worried that the fact he wasn't hard yet might be considered rude or something, but he didn't have time to think about it much before Logan reached out and pulled Kendall into an embrace. Now there was more skin than ever in contact, plus Logan's hardness making itself felt between them. Kendall's senses were going into overload.

"Can we…unf," the last said as Logan ground up against him, "can we lie down again, Logan? Please?"

"Yeah," Logan's voice was rough and low. They got themselves back on Kendall's bed and tangled their legs together and rubbed and kissed and nipped. Logan worked his hand under Kendall's waistband at the back, and just danced his fingers along Kendall's buttocks. Kendall liked that a lot.

"You ready to get rid of these?" Logan panted, tugging on the band. Kendall just sort of froze in his arms. "Tell you what, I'll take mine off first," Logan told him, squirming around to get his briefs off without getting out of bed again. Kendall couldn't help but stare. Logan's, it was, well, Kendall thought it was lovely. "It's okay," Logan whispered, "you can touch it, if you want." Kendall did want. He tentatively brought his hand to it, as if he were about to pet a strange dog for the first time and was giving the dog a chance to get used to the back of his hand first. He gently rubbed the back of his hand over it, barely making contact but that made it so much more erotic for Logan. Kendall's gentleness and his sensitivity. Logan knew he had a lot to do to get Kendall ready, and at this rate he was going to come at the next sweet gesture from Kendall and then where would they be?

Logan twisted around and reached down to the floor and got the lube and condom he had stashed in his pocket out of his jeans. "So, think we can get you out of those?" Logan smiled. "If you're not ready, that's okay. I just don't want to get lube all over your underwear."

Kendall was definite. "I'm ready," he said. He copied Logan's actions of a few moments ago and wriggled out of his underwear without getting up. "Uh, I'm still not, you know," Kendall said, still worrying about his lack of erectness.

"Don't worry, you will be. Would you like me to...well, you tell me. I can touch you there, or take you in my mouth..." Logan could see the panic flash in Kendall's eyes.

"Uh, what would you recommend?" Kendall asked, sounding like a man who definitely knew he was in over his head.

Logan grinned. "I'll tell you what. Let me try something that's a surefire thing to get you going, and if for some reason that doesn't work, I'll get more hands-on in a minute, okay?"

Kendall nodded gratefully. As much as he was pretty sure he'd love either thing Logan suggested, to him they both felt one-sided and selfish.

Logan lubed up his index finger and went back to kissing Kendall. After a moment, Kendall felt Logan's finger pressing up against his backside. Logan gently worked his finger into Kendall's hole, kissing him all the while. Kendall grinned and squirmed, pushing a little closer to Logan in the front.

"Okay?" Logan said, stopping the forward progress of the finger and looking into Kendall's eyes just inches in front of his own.

"Yeah, okay!" Kendall was enthusiastic. Logan continued to work his finger in as deep as he could, and Kendall liked it. Logan pulled out his finger for a second, and brought his hand back around Kendall's body so he could lube up more fingers. He added his middle finger to his index finger once it was back inside Kendall and crooked his fingers, hitting a very sensitive spot, still kissing him. He felt things stirring in between them where they lay.

"Logan, what IS that?" Kendall was helping all he could, thrusting his hips backwards so they were creating even more movement.

"That's your sweet spot, you like that?" Logan knew damn well he did. "Okay, Kindle, get up on your knees, and be sure the towel's under you." Kendall hated that Logan took his fingers out, but he was getting rock hard and he knew things were starting to happen.

Logan took a moment to appreciate how, well, perfect Kendall's body was. Broad shoulders and a strong back tapered down to a narrow waist and he just wanted to enjoy it all. He worked a third finger into Kendall and stretched him as best he could. He peppered Kendall's back with kisses. Kendall was really thrusting himself back onto Logan's fingers now that he was in this new position.

"You ready for more?" Logan asked. Kendall made an affirmative sound and nodded his head vigorously. Logan noticed the sheen on Kendall's shoulders and how the hair at his neck was turning dark and wet.

Logan slid the condom on, and lubed himself up generously. "Okay, remember, tell me if you want me to stop, and, uh, breathe and try to relax as much as you can, okay?" Kendall nodded again-words were beyond him already.

Until he felt Logan's tip at his backside. "Oh, YEAH," he yelled, trying to back onto Logan. Logan wasn't sure how this was going to go, what he was about to put into Kendall was more substantial than a few fingers, but Kendall seemed ready and willing, so he slid in as gently and slowly as possible. Logan had his left hand on Kendall's hip every since they got into this position, and now he rubbed as much lube as he could off his right hand and onto the back of his own sweat-slicked thigh and then started rubbing circles into Kendall's back with that hand, keeping himself perfectly still inside Kendall while he got used to the invasion.

"You doing okay, Kindle?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Kendall breathed. This was...a lot, but still, just like everything else when it came to Logan, it felt right, like it was meant to be. Kendall took a couple of deep breaths, and then told Logan he could move. Kendall even began rocking forward at the hips to initiate it. Soon they were in a rhythm, their hips rolling in time to create all kinds of contact. Logan reached around Kendall's waist and started to stroke him in time with his thrusting. Both of them were panting heavily and Logan kept finding the spot inside Kendall.

"Logan, I think it's time, I think I'm gonna...OH GOD, YES!" Kendall just gave himself over to it, the orgasm flowing through his body was the most intense thing he had ever felt in his life. Logan kept stroking him, and Kendall's muscles were contracting around Logan's penis and soon he too was both seeing and shooting stars. When his orgasm was over, he leaned down and rested his head on Kendall's back, hugging him around the waist and murmuring wordless sounds and just enjoying the contact. He finally gently pulled out of Kendall and removed the condom, tying it off and tossing it into a wastebasket near Kendall's desk.

"He shoots, he scores," Kendall said quietly with giddiness in his tone, his eyes dancing and sparkling as he looked at Logan.

"You liked that?" Logan asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Kendall breathed, shakily. "Uh, was it good for you?"

Logan ruffled Kendall's sweaty hair. "Yes, Kindle, it was very good for me."

"I'm so glad," Kendall said. He scooted off the bed and bunched up the towel. "Good call on this," he said to Logan, walking over to the washing machine and throwing it right in. Then he opened the door of the dryer and pulled out a patchwork quilt. "I figured this would be in here when I didn't see it on my floor. My grandma made it and my mom's always on my case to take better care of it. She must've thrown it in the wash. What?" Kendall said that last question because when he looked over to his bed, Logan was staring at him, his mouth hanging open a bit.

"You're naked," Logan said.

Kendall squinted. "Well, yeah, I have been for a while now."

"No, it's just, you're just walking around all beautiful and naked."

Kendall raised his eyebrows while at the same time he lowered his head to look up at Logan, in a shy but pleased way. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Logan merely nodded. Kendall got back across the room and gently pushed Logan back onto the bed and kissed him. "You're beautiful too. I've never seen eyes like yours, and your smile is the brightest one ever." Kendall got on the bed too, and threw the quilt over their legs. He rested his head on Logan's shoulder, and Logan kissed his temple. Kendall put his left arm across Logan, and Logan held Kendall's hand in his. Kendall looked at their intertwined fingers for a moment, and then squirmed to get his right arm out from under himself. He disengaged his hand from Logan's and pulled off his ring with his right hand and put it on Logan's ring finger. Like everything else with them, Kendall's ring fit Logan's finger perfectly.

"What are you doing?" Logan asked.

"I want you to have this," Kendall replied.

"Because I took your purity away?" Logan teased.

"NO!" Kendall took him, and this, seriously. "That was the most perfect, incredible, wonderful thing that's ever happened to me. And...I don't want you to forget me," he concluded in a sad little voice.

Logan rolled over onto his side so they were face to face and kissed Kendall softly. "I could never forget you. You're right, that was incredible. I've never felt like this with anyone else, ever. We fit together like puzzle pieces or something. Everything was perfect."

Kendall smiled into Logan's eyes. "Um, Logan? Do you think I could go back to Lawrence and help you look for your cousin?"

Logan smiled sadly. He appreciated Kendall for trying, but he didn't see how that would work. "Don't you have to work this weekend? And besides," Logan continued before Kendall could get a word in edgewise, "the last thing you're going to want to do is sit on a motorcycle for three hours tomorrow."

Kendall sighed in disappointment. He'd go through any kind of pain to spend more time with Logan, but there was no way he could take more time off from the store this week. His family needed the money and he'd get fired if he just didn't show up.

"So, tonight's really all we get?" Kendall asked. He didn't want to get all clingy, but, damn this was too good not to fight to give it a chance.

Logan didn't have all the answers, he was still pretty much a kid, they both were. "You need to get into a good school and you'll make friends..."

Kendall buried his head into Logan's shoulder. "I don't want friends, I want you."

"You feel that way right now, but your life is just about to get to movin', you'll be over me in no time," Logan said. That's how his life seemed to have gone so far.

Kendall looked at Logan again, tears welling up in his eyes. "Logan, this wasn't some item I wanted to check off a to-do list before college: 'Item 1: have sex slash lose my virginity.' Until I met you and we talked at that diner and I held you on that bike, it was probably one of the last things on my mind. Everything that's happened tonight...I don't even know. I just, I trusted every gut feeling and everything turned out right. If you want to go because all this was going to be for you was a one-time thing, I can accept that. But you have to say that. Don't tell me I'll move on from you or I'll get over you. Tell me you have to go, and I'll respect it."

"I _do_ have to go," Logan's voice was full of anguish. "But not to get away from you-not in the way you mean, at least. But you are on your way to college, and a life, and I have to get back to Texas."

"Why? What's for you there? Yeah, find and help out your cousin, of course I understand that part, but once's that's done? Why go back? Move up here-you can find work, maybe get back to school..."

"NO, Kindle. That's all crazy dreams and believing that things just work out. School's not an option for me anymore. I don't want it anymore."

"Logan, why are you giving up on life so soon? You've got decades ahead of you, you can do whatever you want."

"You just got laid for the first time and now you think you've got all the answers?"

"I just got laid by _you_-I feel like we could conquer the world."

Logan smiled at him, sighed, and looked up past Kendall to all the trophies on the shelf behind him. "When do you graduate?" Logan asked.

"Huh?"

"When's your graduation?" Logan tried again.

"Oh, uh, first Saturday in June...why?"

"Tell you what, I'll go back to looking for my cousin for these next three weeks, and then I'll come back for your graduation, would that be okay?"

"You'd really do that?" Kendall's face was like a kid being told he's going to get exactly what he wants for Christmas and he can't believe it.

"Have you ever known me to say I was gonna do a thing and not do it?" Logan asked with mock indignation.

"Well, no, but I haven't known..." Kendall was trying to make sense of everything.

"I"m teasing, relax. But I am saying, if you'd like me to be there, I'll be there."

"Of course I want you to be there!" Kendall was letting himself believe now, and it was what he wanted most in the world. He kissed Logan, and pulled back and smiled at him. "I'm going to get to see you again." His voice was this close to singing.

"Yeah," Logan smiled back. "How about we get some sleep now?" It had been a big night.

Kendall snuggled into Logan's shoulder again, and pulled the quilt up more so its warmth was covering them. Right before he drifted off to sleep, Logan murmured, "I did get my GED. As soon as the casts were off my arms. Took the test and passed on the first try." Kendall smiled and kissed Logan's collarbone, since that's what was closest.

"I knew it," he whispered.

After what only seemed like a matter of seconds of sleep, Kendall heard his mom's voice. "Kendall? You up yet? Get in the shower, honey, you'll just about have time to have breakfast and then we have to leave."

Kendall's eyes fluttered open, and then back closed. He just wanted five more minutes in his bed, in this warmth...LOGAN. His eyes flew open and he sat up, locking eyes with his mom who had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her hand on the railing.

"I guess this is the answer to my next question: Whose bike is that in our driveway?" she smiled. She smiled? Why was she so cool with this?

"Mom? Um, this is Logan. Logan, my mom. We'll, uh, we'll come up in a minute, okay?"

"Okay, but make it snappy. You've got to get over to WSU on time for that meeting." She went back up the stairs, still smiling.

Kendall looked down at Logan, who hadn't moved or reacted. He was lying flat on his back, his head on Kendall's pillow, his eyes open wide.

"Uh, good morning?" Kendall tried. What else could he say? "I'd, uh, give you a kiss, but I'm afraid of morning breath..." He was cut off by Logan kissing him.

"Figured we both must have morning breath," Logan told him, smiling. "Your mom's nice."

"Whoa, yeah, uh, good morning." Kendall's thoughts were all jumbled. He kissed Logan again, since that seemed to be the best thing about waking up today.

Too soon Logan broke them apart. "Come on, you've got to get ready."

They got out of bed and for whatever reason, Logan was the shy one. Just like last night, Kendall had no qualms about walking around naked. Logan quickly got his clothes back on while Kendall just pulled on his shorts for walking upstairs to the shower. He gathered the clean clothes he was going to wear for the day and put them on top of the pile of towels. Might as well bring those up too. Logan was looking at his desk.

"Kindle? Can I use a piece of paper?" Logan asked.

"Sure!" Kendall put the pile of towels and clothes back on top of the dryer and walked over and flipped open his A/P English notebook to a blank page. Logan found a pen on the desk and wrote down a phone number and under it he wrote "Aunt Jane and Uncle Henry".

"Those are my cousin's parents. If you need to git a hold of me, call them and they'll give me the message. I check in with them once a day, usually," Logan told him. Kendall's face lit up. Logan was a smart one. Kendall tore off the bottom half of the page and wrote his number and put his name under it. Logan laughed. "Afraid I'd forget who gave me this?" he teased Kendall.

"Maybe," Kendall blushed.

"No way in hell," Logan promised.

They went upstairs and Kendall told Logan to use the bathroom first and gave him a new toothbrush from under the sink to use. It was pink and Logan asked if Kendall's sister would be mad if he gave it away.

"Actually, the pink ones are mine," Kendall had to admit. "Katie's favorite color is black, she's gonna love you."

While Logan was freshening up, Kendall put the towels in the linen closet and then went back to the kitchen to face his mom. She was still smiling and beaming at him.

"Logan seems nice, honey," she said. Kendall shushed her.

"He doesn't need to think we're talking about him," Kendall said. "He, uh, gave me a ride home last night because I missed the bus."

"Wasn't that nice! I'll make him breakfast," she turned to the fridge and started pulling out eggs and butter.

"NO! I mean, we'll ask him, but if he needs to get going, we'll let him go. He's, uh, he's coming back for graduation."

"That's nice," Kendall's mom said. Kendall was beyond freaked-why wasn't she freaking out?

Logan came out of the bathroom and stood in the kitchen doorway. "Uh, the room's all yours, Kindle. You don't want to be late."

Before Kendall could respond, his mom was telling him to have a seat and that coffee would be ready in a minute and how did he like his eggs?

"Oh, do you eat eggs, dear?" she asked. "I guess I shouldn't just assume..."

"Uh, sure, I eat eggs. But you really don't need to feed me. I should be on my way..." he looked to Kendall for some sort of guidance.

"Please stay, if you can spare the time," Kendall said. "I owe you for dinner last night," and I don't want to kiss you until I've brushed my teeth, now that you've brushed yours, he thought but didn't say.

"I'll be right pleased to stay for breakfast, ma'am," he said to Kendall's mom.

"Please, call me Jennifer," she giggled. "Kendall, get your butt moving!" That last said in her strictest Mom voice.

Kendall showered in under five minutes. He came back to the kitchen with his hair dripping wet and trying to put his socks on as he walked. Too late: his mom was already through giving Logan the third degree. She was standing over Logan, dishing a second helping of eggs onto his plate.

"Grab a seat, honey, I'll scramble up some more eggs for you. Logan was just telling me about Texas and his cousin and how you two met." She pointed with the spatula at Kendall's ring on Logan's hand and smiled hugely.

Logan looked up at Kendall with his big brown eyes. "I'm sorry," he mouthed.

Kendall just smiled helplessly. The women in his family were shrewd as hell and nothing got past them. He knew Logan had been overpowered by her sweetness combined with a determination to get every last detail.

Jennifer put a mug of coffee and the plate of eggs in front of Kendall. "Honey, while that stuff cools off for a minute, could you help me with something? In my room?"

Kendall rolled his eyes at Logan, but there was no way out of this without making a scene. He obediently followed her into the next room and waited.

"So?" he finally asked.

"So, I like him! He's handsome and polite and smart-and what he's doing for his cousin, what a sweetheart!" Jennifer enthused.

"Mom, why are you so cool about this? This has to be some sort of trick, but to what end?"

"Trick? Honey, no! I'm just so happy! I've been waiting, oh, I don't know how long, for this! I was so worried when you let Jo tie you down, but then I thought it'd be all right when she came home and didn't have your ring on anymore, but you still didn't seem to get it!"

"Get what?" Kendall asked.

"Get that you were actually interested in something else," Jennifer answered.

"You knew? How could you know? I didn't even know I wanted...that...till last night," Kendall said.

"You're fooling yourself if that's what you think you think," she told him. As a mom, she always felt it was best to be honest with your kids. "I think it was more that even though you knew you didn't want Jo, or any other girlfriend, you just didn't want anyone you had met so far. I was hoping you'd find someone when you got to college. But now you've met Logan already!"

"Mom, I've met a really great guy who I really like. I wouldn't exactly call him 'Mr. Right' just yet..."

"Sure, honey. Don't put that kind of pressure on him. I understand. Now, quick, go eat your breakfast and say your goodbyes, I'll just wait in the car. I'm sorry you can't have much time, but that's life."

Kendall bemusedly walked back into the kitchen and sat down and looked at Logan. "She likes you," he smiled. He added, "I do too."

Logan laughed. "Great. I come in here, have my way with her baby boy, eat her food, drink her coffee, park my bike in her driveway, and she likes me? So much for being a badass. If they hear about this in Texas, I may have to move out of state."

"I think that's probably for the best-you should look into that."

Logan smiled and titled his head, studying Kendall's face. "Yeah, maybe I should at that. Hey, you've got an appointment to git to."

Kendall shoveled in a forkful of eggs and swallowed down some coffee. He was dreading having to say goodbye to Logan, but better to do it in here instead of in the driveway with his mom watching.

He got up and walked over to Logan, who was putting on his leather jacket that was still on the back of a kitchen chair from last night. Logan carefully zipped Kendall's piece of paper into one of the inside pockets. Kendall, watching him do this, realized something.

"I don't even know your last name," he said.

"It's Mitchell," Logan said.

"Mine's Knight," Kendall told him.

Logan smiled a slow smile. "I knew that last night, plus you wrote it down with your phone number," Logan said.

"How did you know it last night?"

"It's on all the trophies."

"Oh. Oh yeah. I feel like I should be giving you one of those," Kendall grinned.

"You can pick one out and give it to me when I come back. Right now we better get you out of here so you will be able to win some more of those," Logan said. He didn't want to have to part, but Kendall had a future to work on, and now, maybe Logan did too.

"As much as I think it'd thrill my mom to see it, can I give you a goodbye kiss in here?" Kendall asked.

"Nope."

"No?" Kendall was thrown off balance figuratively and literally by that answer, he had already started to lean in for the kiss as he asked for it.

"It's not goodbye...but I will give you a kiss for luck," Logan said. And did so. And Kendall's toes curled again.


End file.
